It was adapted that same year as a pictorial book that becameand still remains standard reading for students of the arts.
#JOHN BERGER WAYS OF SEEING PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES#
Or they might be the fearless who fight for justice, who take care of people, the kind, the environmentalists, and anyone who tries to get us to understand each other and work together. Ways Of Seeing was originally a four-part series on the BBC, hosted by British art critic, theorist and novelist John Berger and directed by Michael Dibb. Or they might be well-off but still afraid, hiding in gated communities, too paralyzed to think beyond their personal comfort and convenience. Possibly they are even thinking that the election was stolen and lost in a web of conspiracy theories. If we were to think about them, who would they be now? They might be grief-stricken, lonely, impoverished, essential but underpaid, afraid of illness, climate change and the future, but unable to do anything about it. I have heard musicians and theater people talk about their audiences, but the painters-not so much. I’m grateful that she did because during this Covid Year I have been thinking about the audience for painting. What put me on to it now was that my friend Sophie Balhetchet, a producer for the BBC who worked with Dibb and Berger, recommended the films of Mike Dibb, which were showing in a retrospective at Whitechapel Gallery. There is a lot more to Ways of… than I have described. The idea that viewers should not respond emotionally, or have their own thoughts at all, prevails to this day. When Berger then reads a prominent art historian’s disparaging remarks about the idea of being “seduced” by Hals’ portraits, perhaps into thinking that “we know the personality traits and even the habits of the men and women portrayed,” it is a jarring moment. The next sequence is not about photography as art-it is about how the photography of painting has affected how, when and where we see paintings-in multiple sizes, in cut out details, in advertisement, in film, simultaneously and all over the world.įrans Hals, “Portrait of The Regentesses of the Old Men’s Almshouse Haarlem” (detail) (1664) Also implied is that it is just a way-not the only way. A painting is not presented here as a cultural artifact with a fixed meaning defined for all time by historians Berger wants to present art “stripped of its false mystery and the false religiosity ” -so it can be seen anew.īerger segues immediately into photography and, though he does not actually say it, it becomes obvious that the invention of one point perspective in the 1400s prepared us to think of the single eye of the camera as representing reality. The ostensible subject is European painting from 1400 to 1900-the period that starts with the invention of perspective which “centers everything in the eye of the beholder.” And that “eye of the beholder” is really what Ways of… is all about. First published in 1972, it was based on the BBC television series about which the (London) Sunday Times critic commented: 'This is an eye-opener in more ways than one: by concentrating on how we look at paintings. If you enjoyed Ways of Seeing, you might like Susan Sontag's On Photography, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.Pieter Bruegel the Elder “The Procession to Calvary” (1564) John Bergers Ways of Seeing is one of the most stimulating and influential books on art in any language. he will almost certainly change the way you look at pictures.' By now he has. First published in 1972, it was based on the BBC television series about which the Sunday Times critic commented: 'This is an eye-opener in more ways than one: by concentrating on how we look at paintings. John Berger's Ways of Seeing is one of the most stimulating and influential books on art in any language. The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled.' It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world we explain that world with words, but word can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it. 'But there is also another sense in which seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak.' Based on the BBC television series, John Berger's Ways of Seeing is a unique look at the way we view art, published as part of the Penguin on Design series in Penguin Modern Classics.
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